Sensex Trades Marginally Higher, Dow Futures Down By 37 Points

Share markets in India are presently trading marginally higher.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 43 points, up 0.1%, at 55,986 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 7 points.

Reliance and HUL are among the top gainers today. Bharti Airtel and Power Grid Corporation are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.3%

The BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.4%.

On the sectoral front, stocks from the energy sector are witnessing most of the buying interest.

On the other hand, stocks from the telecom sector are witnessing most of the selling pressure.

US stock futures are trading lower today, indicating a negative opening for Wall Street.

Nasdaq Futures are trading down by 49 points (down 0.3%) while Dow Futures are trading down by 37 points (down 0.1%)

The rupee is trading at 74.23 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down 0.2% at Rs 47,102 per 10 grams.

Gold prices skidded in Indian markets today amid a weak global trend. On MCX, gold futures edged lower to Rs 47,170 per 10 grams.

Note that gold has been very volatile this month. It fell to a four-month low of Rs 45,600 earlier this month on taper fears before seeing some recovery. Gold had hit a record high of Rs 56,200 in August last year.

In global markets, gold rates were flat today as traders turned cautious ahead of US Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium later this week. Spot gold fell 0.1% to US$ 1,788.2 per ounce.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks, today is Cipla.

Pharmaceutical major Cipla said that it has entered into a pact with Bengaluru-based Kemwell Biopharma, contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), to develop, manufacture, and commercialize biosimilars for global markets.

Cipla will hold a 60% stake in the joint venture company.

Under the terms of the agreement, the joint venture will leverage Cipla and Kemwell's complementary strengths for end-to-end product development, clinical development, regulatory filings, manufacturing, and commercialization of biopharmaceutical products.

Umang Vohra, managing director & global chief executive officer of Cipla, said,

This development reinforces our strength as leaders in respiratory therapy and is in line with our aspiration of global lung leadership. Guided by our purpose of 'Caring for life' our partnership with Kemwell will help serve the unmet needs of patients across the globe.

Cipla is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company, headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company primarily develops medicines to treat respiratory, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other medical conditions.

We will keep you posted on more updates from this space. Stay tuned.

At the time of writing, Cipla shares were trading down by 0.2% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the sugar sector...

Central Government Raises Fair Price of Sugar Cane

The Central government has hiked the minimum price that sugar mills must pay to cane farmers by Rs 5 a quintal, setting the fair and remunerative price (FRP) at Rs 290 a quintal for the sugar season, which runs from October to September.

Despite demands from sugar mills, however, the Centre refused to hike the minimum price that they can sell the processed sugar, citing consumer interests.

The decision by the Union Cabinet comes a day after Punjab cane farmers wrested an additional Rs 35 a quintal price hike from their government, and amidst demands from Uttar Pradesh farmers for a similar hike after three consecutive years of unchanged rates.

The Rs 290 a quintal national FRP will apply for a recovery rate of 10%.

Sugar mills welcomed the decision as reasonable but demanded that the minimum selling prices (MSP) also be hiked.

However, the Centre said that it had no intention of increasing the MSP at this time, arguing that the mills received governmental support for exports as well as to divert surplus sugar to ethanol production.

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more updates from this space.

Speaking of stocks, here is an illustration of the four phases that stock goes through during its life cycle. The cycle repeats itself after the stock goes through all these stages.